The Walt Disney Company + Google Ad Manager: What to Know

From Comcast’s FreeWheel to Google’s Ad Manager, The Walt Disney Company is making a major switch in an effort to provide optimal advertising for consumers and advertisers.

What Does Disney’s New Adoption of Google Ad Manager Mean?

The global strategic relationship enables Google Ad Manager to act as the primary advertising technology site for The Walt Disney Company, which in turn allows Google to handle the digital advertising for ABC, ESPN, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars.

The partnership, which will last for a minimum of three years, can be viewed as a win for both entities. Disney has a comprehensive and streamlined advertising platform in Google Ad Manager, and Google now reigns as king in the digital advertising space, surpassing competitor Comcast by securing the Disney partnership.

What Will Google Ad Manager Do as Disney’s Ad Platform?

Google Ad Manager will be home to Disney’s digital video and display business, enabling video and photo ads across the web, on mobile apps, within streaming TV and during live events.

Google's Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler said, "Together [Google and Disney], we plan to build an advanced video experience for Disney that will transcend devices, platforms and living rooms to bring the magic of premium video content into people’s hearts, minds and screens —everywhere."

What Does the Disney + Google Partnership Mean for Marketers?

According to Advertiser Perceptions’ 2018 Video Advertising Convergence Report, 58% of advertisers are investing in over-the-top (OTT) or connected TV, 44% in programmatic linear TV, 40% in addressable TV, 35% in data-enabled linear TV and 32% in set-top box VOD. But just slightly more than half of advertisers blend their TV and digital strategies.

The Disney/Google partnership should help marketers better connect their marketing messages, developing strategies for consumers and their customer journeys instead of divergent channel-focused strategies.

Google has clocked a consistent one-third of worldwide digital advertising revenue since 2016. As Disney switches their advertising initiatives to Google Ad Manager, marketers who are regularly logged into Google Ad Manager may feel it’s easier than ever to expand their brands’ reaches.

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About the Author

An experienced serial entrepreneur in mobile and digital marketing, Jonathan Katz’s expertise consists of an extremely proven track record in search, social and programmatic media. Throughout his 20+ year career, he has scaled start-ups and brands across health insurance, government services, automotive, careers, education, consumer finance and politics. As Chief Media Officer for Digital Media Solutions (DMS), Jonathan provides technical direction across the company in areas of marketing automation, product development, machine language learning, architecture and software technology. He leads the team working across the firm’s diverse set of divisions to drive new product innovation and strategic positioning and also oversees customer acquisition teams across all media channels. Always striving to remain innovative, Jonathan is now charting a new path via artificial intelligence marketing in performance media that will revolutionize the industry.